Hellgate HG-1
by Barefoot XO
Summary: When Robert Kinsey attempts to hijack the Stargate during the finale of SG-1 Season 1, Catherine Langford repossesses it and takes it down a road that will start a whole new life for her... and others...


I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Stargate or Indiana Jones...

Basically this is a 'What if?' story. What if Kinsey decided to try to get a hold of the Gate before it was put back into service. I say, enter the Hellgate!

It should be noted that while this is a Xander-Centred fic, Xander is not quite so prominent in this particular 'episode'. This will rapidly change in future 'episodes'...

~~

 **The Gates of Hell**

 _Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command  
During SG-1 Season 1 Finale (Within the Serpent's Grasp)_

"Seventh chevron will not lock…"

The voice of the announcer sent a chill through General Hammond, a cold announcement that SG-2 would not be retrieving SG-1; a frightening declaration that SG-1 was all alone out there, carrying the last hope for Earth along with them, even if Senator Kinsey had not believed them. Hammond sighed expressively and motion Ferretti away from the Gate. "SG-2, stand down. I guess we won't be sending anyone out after SG-1 after all."

"Quite right, General." George spun about rapidly, his face taking on a chalky white appearance at the arrival of Senator Robert Kinsey on the scene, with Lieutenant Colonel Samuels in tow. "Frankly, I'm appalled that you even considered disobeying my order to shut down the Gate. One might almost accuse you of treason, General."

George allowed an easy smile to grace his features. Nothing could be done for SG-1 now. They would succeed or they would die. Now was the time to save his own hide and those remaining people who stood with him. "On the contrary, Senator. I was merely making an attempt to retrieve SG-1 for disciplinary action. Now that it has failed, I fully intend to shut the Stargate down, as per my standing orders."

A smug smirk appeared on Kinsey's deceptively friendly face at Hammond's pronouncement. "Of course you were, General. I like a man who can obey orders. Now, perhaps you can take this order. You are being commanded to release the Stargate to the custody of myself and Colonel Samuels, so that we might transport it to Area 51 for indefinite storage."

Hammond glanced quickly at Ferretti, stifling the man's hearty protest with but a look. Nothing good would come of fighting Kinsey. The man had the power and the right to do exactly what he was doing. Or so Hammond believed.

"I'm afraid that you are quite mistaken, Senator Kinsey. The Stargate is not and has never been the property of the United States government."

Kinsey spun about, his face contorting in rage to find himself facing a tiny, elderly woman and her equally elderly companion.

"Frankly Senator, I was rather appalled that I was not kept in the loop about my Stargate. I understand about need to know, but I was given to understand that someone whose property is being used automatically needs to know. Luckily, the President saw fit to give me an explanation and here I am…"

"By whose authority…" Kinsey began to sputter before Hammond smoothly cut him off.

"I don't believe, Senator Kinsey, that you've met Doctor Catherine Langford. Doctor Langford inherited ownership of the Stargate from her father, who claimed it in Giza so many years ago. She is the owner of the Stargate and, unless I miss my guess, is here to repossess it, since we obviously have no use for what has recently become a glorified paperweight."

The wind seemed to leave Kinsey's sails for a moment before he rallied. "The Gate is a national resource and cannot be removed to anyone's personal ownership, regardless of who found it."

Catherine merely offered Kinsey a superior grin. "The only people who could claim this as a national resource are Egypt and England, Senator. The Gate was discovered on Egyptian soil and was discovered on a dig run by my father who was, to his dying day, an English citizen. I'm afraid you don't have a leg to stand on here…" Then, upon delivering her devastating reply, Catherine simply turned to Hammond bestowing a smile. "Hello again, George. I trust you can have the Gate transported out of this facility? I'm afraid that it, Ernest and I have a terribly long journey ahead of us."

Knowing the Gate was lost anyway and trusting it far more in Catherine's hands then Kinsey's, George nodded solemnly. "I'll see to it personally, Catherine. And it's good to see you again, Dr. Littlefield."

The elderly man finally spoke for the first time since their arrival. "A pleasure as always, George. Give Daniel my best when you next see him…"

**

 _London, International Watchers' Council_

"And that one?"

Dawn Summers smiled up at her mentor, answering calmly and efficiently, "This is a translation of the 'History of the Slayers' spiel into the Pylean tongue."

Rupert Giles, head of the Council, smiled proudly in acknowledgement of Dawns small achievement. "Excellent, Dawn. Now how about you try to translate this one for me…"

Rupert soon found himself cut off by the clearing of a throat at his door. "I'm sorry to bother you, Doctor Giles, but there is someone who wishes to speak with you at this time."

Giles pinched his nose in frustration. "I do believe that I asked not to be disturbed during my lessons with Miss Summers unless the reason for it was a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. Is it…"

Andrew swallowed dramatically at the positively Ripper-ish expression on Giles' face. "Well, no sir, but…"

"But nothing. Dammit, Andrew, I thought I made it clear that I don't want to be bothered with every little thing anymore. I don't care what we eat for lunch, so long as I can readily identify it. If the slayers need more stakes, you know who to call. If the…"

"Now Rupert, really. I realise that the lad can be a bit trying but must you blow up at him before he can properly announce me?"

Cut off from his tirade so abruptly, Giles had difficulty collecting himself. "Ca-Catherine? How wonderful to see you again. What brings you to Britain?"

Placing a hand on Andrew's arm and thanking him for his time, Catherine smiled indulgently at Giles. "I've got an object of mine recently reacquired from a certain group in the American military. Now, the cover stones had two sets of text. One was an Ancient Egyptian text which was readily translated once we acquired a competent linguist. Now, the other track was seven symbols, all constellations, offering up a map to another planet in the universe. We figured out what that all meant readily enough. Likewise, on the device itself, there were countless symbols which symbolised constellations. These rotated when given a charge and effectively used to dial addresses. Anyway, that is not why I'm here."

Giles took his glasses off, totally befuddled by Catherine's rapid-fire explanation. "Then why are you here, Catherine?"

The elderly woman grinned. "Because, when I recently retrieved the object in question, I discovered what appears to be a demonic script around the very edge of the object. It is so small as to be barely visible, which is why I never noted it before, but it is most definitely a text of some kind, and one which I am admittedly unfamiliar with…"

Giles exchanged a long look with his prize pupil before locking gazes with Catherine again. "Show us…"

**

 _Giza Plateau, International Watchers' Council - Sponsored Dig_

"Mr. Harris!" The shout cut through the hectic dig site like a hot knife through butter, reaching the ears of its intended recipient with a seemingly effortless ease.

Xander Harris had grown into a larger man over the years, his time in Africa having completed a process started by hard construction labour. Now what bulk he had was muscle, rather then the paunch he had grown occasionally from too many twinkies. So it was not shocking at all to see the youthful Watcher jogging effortlessly through the dig site to find the man who had called for him.

The man in question was Sallah. Older then dirt, the man still had a strong enough back to still be of aid on these digs in the blistering desert heat. Legends abounded around Egypt about how Sallah had often aided the legendary Dr. Henry Jones. There were even some particularly soft-spoken rumours about the Holy Grail and even the Ark of the Covenant. Xander was not sure of the truth to any of these rumours, save the ones about Jones. Dr. Henry 'Indiana' Jones had been a thorn in the side of the old Watchers' Council, and Sallah was certainly one of Jones' well known 'conspirators' in Watcher circles. All the more reason that Xander had been sure to get Sallah on his side early.

"Sallah?"

"Over here, Mr. Harris!"

Spotting his friend, Xander sprinted quickly over to the old man. "What have you got Sallah? Something good, like we thought?"

The old man grinned. "Yes, Mr. Harris. Something very good." With that the man motioned towards a nearby bit of uncovered ground with a flourish.

Neither man could have known, but the artefact in question bore a rather interesting resemblance to a Stargate's DHD. It was not a DHD, but it was eerily similar. Still, neither man knew that and so did not draw such a comparison. Xander merely gaped for a long moment, unable to believe they had found so intriguing an artefact. "This is beyond amazing Sallah. You've done an amazing job here."

Sallah beamed with understandable pride. "Are you able to translate the symbols on the buttons, Mr. Harris?"

Xander shook his head. "No, but they're definitely demonic in origin. I'd have to get a hold of one of our bookish Watchers to figure this beauty out…"

"Checking out the new gizmo that Sallah found, Boytoy?"

The one-eyed man sighed in a long-suffering manner as he turned to address his Slayer. "Yes, Faith. I was just telling Sallah that I can't translate this myself. We need an expert."

Faith shrugged obligingly at that. "Then what's the plan, Boss?"

Xander flinched at that. He knew that Faith only called him Boss to tease him for 'officially' being in charge of her, but it still brought back memories of the only other person she had called that. The person she had worked for when she had tried to wring Xander's neck. As quickly as the moment happened, Xander banished it and got back down to business. "Well, the object isn't all that big. I figure we charter a plane to take it and us back to London. Once we're there we can let Giles and Dawnie take a crack at it."

Faith grinned at the prospect. While she would readily admit that the environment had done her a lot of good, after she'd been assigned to Xander, she still wasn't all that fond of deserts and jungles the way Xander was. Of course, Xander had a year's head start on her, but still. "Off to the land of tea and crumpets, eh X-man?"

Xander nodded with an ironic twist of his mouth. "Tea and crumpets, tweed and royals. That's the place for us, right now…"

**

 _London, Warehouse on the Edge of Town_

Dawn held a magnifying glass as she carefully inscribed the runes on a piece of paper, as Catherine and Giles stood off to the side, chatting.

"So where did you find this object, Catherine?"

Dr. Langford grinned, fingering the pendant that she wore meaningfully. "Giza Plateau, 1928."

Giles' eyes widened. "You must have been…"

Langford grinned. "…very young, yes. It was actually my father who discovered it. I merely inherited responsibility for it when my father died."

Both were interrupted when Dawn gasped at whatever she had managed to translate from the edge of the Stargate. "What is it, Dawn?"

Dawn, meanwhile, stared at the paper in wonder. "I'm gonna need you to go over this, Giles. I want to make sure I've got all of this down correctly."

Giles smiled softly. "I will do so soon, Dawn, but you needn't be so critical of yourself, Dawn. You've been doing a fine job so…"

"… far, yes. This is important Giles. I need you to double-check my translation now. This inscription is a prophecy of some kind, and you know us and prophecies. Time is of the essence…"

Giles paled a ghastly shade of white and immediately snatched the paper Dawn had offered and began to read it…

**

 _London, International Watchers' Council_

"So what's the verdict, Rupert?"

Giles sighed in exasperation. "Dawn has this exactly right. The prophecy is correctly translated in every respect. Now comes the difficult part. We have to figure out what the prophecy means…"

Catherine nodded sympathetically. "May I see it?"

Giles turned over the translated text.

'This world is older than any of you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, demons walked the Taura Atlantus, made it their home, their Hell. In time, though, they were driven back through the Gate of Hell, and the way was made for mortal animals. For Man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: certain magicks, certain creatures… The elders tell that the Gate of Hell to leave this reality was sealed away by magic rather then a dimensional barrier. The Gate itself was transformed into a Gate of Heaven so that the creatures of the Heavens would not know the truth of our secret past. It was instead decided to hide the gate in this form, until such time as it would be needed to defend Taura Atlantus again.

The elders spoke of the four who would reopen the Gate to defend their word. First among them is Gawain's heir, a man born to take on his predecessor's mantle. With him shall be the companion of Hope and Charity, restored to herself by unselfish love. With them also shall be the unwilling soloist whose voice has rung alone for far too long. And last, but perhaps most important, shall be the opener of locks and doors and gateways, used to open what she once was called to shut. Know you now that the way is shut, and shall be until the chosen few are called together to change that…'

Catherine could not help but sigh in exasperation at the heavy piece of writing. It might take some time to go through this. "I suppose we'd better get to work, eh Rupert?"

Giles grinned wanly in response. "Indeed Catherine. And I suspect that translating this will only be the beginning…"

To be Continued…

~~

Jasper


End file.
